Asymmetrically fair rules for an indivisible good problem with a budget constraint

We study a particular restitution problem where there is an indivisible good (land or property) over which two agents have rights: the dispossessed agent and the owner. A third party, possibly the government, seeks to resolve the situation by assigning rights to one and compensate the other. There is also a maximum amount of money available for the compensation. We characterize a family of asymmetrically fair rules that are immune to strategic behavior, guarantee minimal welfare levels for the agents, and satisfy the budget constraint.

The significant role of third-party logistics (3pl) operators as fosterers of organizational performance in colombian companies

La eliminación de barreras entre países es una consecuencia que llega con la globalización y con los acuerdos de TLC firmados en los últimos años. Esto implica un crecimiento significativo del comercio exterior, lo cual se ve reflejado en un aumento de la complejidad de la cadena de suministro de las empresas. Debido a lo anterior, se hace necesaria la búsqueda de alternativas para obtener altos niveles de productividad y competitividad dentro de las empresas en Colombia, ya que el entorno se ha vuelto cada vez más complejo, saturado de competencia no sólo nacional, sino también internacional. Para mantenerse en una posición competitiva favorable, las compañías deben enfocarse en las actividades que le agregan valor a su negocio, por lo cual una de las alternativas que se están adoptando hoy en día es la tercerización de funciones logísticas a empresas especializadas en el manejo de estos servicios. Tales empresas son los Proveedores de servicios logísticos (LSP), quienes actúan como agentes externos a la organización al gestionar, controlar y proporcionar actividades logísticas en nombre de un contratante. Las actividades realizadas pueden incluir todas o parte de las actividades logísticas, pero como mínimo la gestión y ejecución del transporte y almacenamiento deben estar incluidos (Berglund, 2000). El propósito del documento es analizar el papel de los Operadores Logísticos de Tercer nivel (3PL) como promotores del desempeño organizacional en las empresas colombianas, con el fin de informar a las MIPYMES acerca de los beneficios que se obtienen al trabajar con LSP como un medio para mejorar la posición competitiva del país.

De los movimientos de autodefensa campesina a la conformación de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) en el período de 1946 a 1966

El problema de la propiedad de la tierra en Colombia es un problema bastante antiguo que se remonta mucho antes del siglo XX, el cuestionamiento de los títulos de propiedad de los terratenientes, representa el inicio de una larga lucha del campesinado por defender su trabajo y su propia vida. En la presente investigación, se busca establecer la relación entre los conflictos por el acceso a la tierra y el origen de grupos guerrilleros en la región de Sumapaz, oriente y sur del Tolima en los años 1946 a 1966. En los años 1946 a 1966, en la transición de los grupos de autodefensa de masas a movimientos guerrilleros, fueron determinantes factores como: la desigualdad social en el campo, los conflictos por el acceso a la tierra, la lucha bipartidista y la influencia del Partido Comunista. Estos factores tuvieron una fuerte incidencia en la organización campesina y posteriormente en la conformación de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC.

Push button parliament–why India needs a non-partisan, recorded vote system

Decisions of national importance are made by Parliamentary voting. Yet Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) vote with a remarkable lack of freedom and accountability. The introduction of the Tenth Schedule in the Constitution has crippled free expression, since it provides that MPs voting against ‘any direction’ of their Party are liable to disqualification from the legislature  In addition, except for Constitutional amendments, Indian Parliamentary Procedure Rules do not require votes of MPs to be recorded unless the Speaker’s decision is contested in the House. The result is that voting in the House has become mechanical, controlled by Party politics and devoid of responsibility. This paper comments on a general theory of democratic accountability through the lens of Parliamentary voting. It suggests that the voting system adopted in the Parliament is an effective indicator to measure the level of accountability of its Members. In the context of India, this paper argues that the level of accountability will increase to a desirable extent only when there is adoption of a recorded system for every important House vote. Upon examination of India’s record thus far (through the sample of the 14th Lok Sabha) it becomes evident that the level of divisions (recorded votes) is substantially lower than other countries. This leads the paper to probe, as to why that might be the case. Part II of the paper answers that question by examining the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. The paper scrutinizes the disproportionate influence of the Party in decision making in the Parliament. Apart from dealing with the inherent problem of the Tenth Schedule, this paper suggests two procedural changes to make parliamentary expression more meaningful. Firstly, the recording of all important votes within the Parliament and secondly, registering Party whips with the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs so that the voter knows the clear stand of every Parliamentary continuum. The focus of the paper is thus to bring back the attention of the legislators to their central function, which is deliberation on and the passage of legislation.

Pregnancy in adolescents as a problem to 14 – 19 year olds in Nocaima (Cundinamarca)

Adolescent pregnancy is a current problem which raises concern due to its individual, familiar and collective consequences. Fifteen million adolescents give birth each year in the world. Abortion is the preferred option used in unwanted pregnancies. Adolescent pregnancy is frequent in Nocaima, Cundinamarca and is a community concern in this small town initiating its process of becoming a healthy municipality. As such, the community has highlighted this problem to be studied and submitted to intervention to promote a free and responsible sexuality decreasing unwanted adolescent pregnancies. Objective: To find data on contraception, pregnancy and related factors in selected adolescents therefore, improving current incomplete information. Methods: Descriptive observational study with survey application on 226 female 14 to 19 year old students from three high school facilities in Nocaima including 8th to 11th graders. Results: 88.9% of the participants were between 14 and 17 years of age. 66.8% of the adolescents claim to use correctly contraceptive methods and 28.8% have had sexual intercourse with an average initiation at age 15. 11.1% have been pregnant once in their lives and of these 57.1 % ended in induced abortion and 66.8% were school dropouts. Conclusions: After having implemented an educational campaign on healthy sex and reproductive behaviors we view adolescent pregnancy as a public health problem which is preventable and related to the deficit of social and family support as well as weakness in individual decision making.

Las dos caras de la identidad nacional turca en la configuración de su política exterior en medio oriente gobierno Recep Tayyip Erdogan

El interés de esta monografía es explicar la configuración de la política exterior de Turquía dentro del estudio de las Relaciones Internacionales. Se analiza el comportamiento y las acciones emprendidas por la República de Turquía con la llegada del AKP al poder y los cambios que ha enfrentado el sistema internacional, a partir del papel que juega la identidad nacional turca sobre la construcción de su política exterior hacia Medio Oriente. Asimismo, se cuestionan algunos postulados principales de la escuela realista a partir de un análisis alternativo en el que se demuestra que Turquía tiene diferentes formas de crear y proyectar la imagen del país. Siguiendo, a la perspectiva constructivista, la cual establece cómo la identidad nacional, kemalista y neootomana que configura la política exterior de Turquía ha sido construida, cómo es comprendida y cómo esta comprensión da lugar a los intereses nacionales que guían su política exterior.

Six party talks desafíos en la implementación de la política exterior de China (2003-2013)

Este estudio de caso se centra en los esfuerzos de China por reanudar los Six Party Talks o Diálogos a Seis Bandas que son considerados como la opción más viable para tratar la situación nuclear en la península coreana.

Combatant recruitment and the outcome of war

Why do some civil wars terminate soon, with victory of one party over the other? What determines if the winner is the incumbent or the rebel group? Why do other conáicts last longer? We propose a simple model in which the power of each armed group depends on the number of combatants it is able to recruit. This is in turn a function of the relative ëdistanceíbetween group leaderships and potential recruits. We emphasize the moral hazard problem of recruitment: Öghting is costly and risky so combatants have the incentive to defect from their task. They can also desert altogether and join the enemy. This incentive is stronger the farther away the Öghter is from the principal, since monitoring becomes increasingly costly. Bigger armies have more power but less monitoring capacity to prevent defection and desertion. This general framework allows a variety of interpretations of what type of proximity matters for building strong cohesive armies ranging from ethnic distance to geographic dispersion. Di§erent assumptions about the distribution of potential Öghters along the relevant dimension of conáict lead to di§erent equilibria. We characterize these, discuss the implied outcome in terms of who wins the war, and illustrate with historical and contemporaneous case studies.

If factor shares are not constant then we have a measurment problem. can we solve it?

Recent evidence show that factor shares, if properly measured, are far from constant. Moreover, the shares of natural resources and raw labor seem to be negatively correlated with income per capita while the share of human and physical capital is positively correlated with income per capita. Now, if factor shares are not constant then (i) growth accounting exercises rely on a false assumption and (ii) there is a measurement problem. The effect that change s in factor shares ha ve on output depend on the relative abundance of factors and, fo r this reason, it is necessary to have correct measures. We propose an empiri cal methodology to solve the measurement issue and estimate TFP growth.